"You are quite young enough yet to be
happy--if only the right woman turns up."
He leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head, and contemplated
her with a criticism that lasted several seconds. His dark face wore its
funny, monkeyish look of regret, half-wistful and half-feigned.
"I wish--" he said suddenly--"I wish I'd come down here when you first
began to rusticate."
"Why?" said Juliet, with her level eyes upon him.
He laughed and sprang abruptly to his feet. "_Quien sabe_? I might have
turned rustic too--pious also, my _Juliette_! Think of it! Life isn't
fair to me. Why am I condemned always to ride the desert alone?"
"Mainly because you ride too hard," said Juliet. "None but you can keep
up the pace. Ah!" She turned her head quickly, and the swift colour
flooded her face.
"Ah!" mocked Saltash softly, watching her. "Is it Romeo's step
that I hear?"
Columbus wagged his tail in welcome as Dick Green came round the corner
of the Ricketts' cottage and walked down under the apple-trees to join
them. He greeted Saltash with the quiet self-assurance of a man who
treads his own ground. There was no hint of hostility in his bearing.
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